STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5131 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 7, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. ARROYO -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health AN ACT to establish a Minority Coordinating Council on Asthmatic Affairs The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as 2 the "Lydia Soto law". 3 § 2. Legislative findings and intent. According to the American Lung 4 Association, there are over 1.6 million New Yorkers with asthma, with 5 over 380,000 of them being children. The annual cost of asthma is esti- 6 mated to be nearly 18 billion dollars. Access to health care for ethnic 7 minorities is often hampered by socio-economic disparities, shortages of 8 primary care physicians in minority communities, language and literacy 9 barriers, and cultural beliefs about the role and usefulness of medi- 10 cines. There have emerged clear disparities in the burden and treatment 11 of asthma in the communities of ethnic minorities. The burden of asthma 12 falls disproportionately on the African-American and Hispanic popu- 13 lations, and especially on children of these ethnic minorities. There- 14 fore, it is the intent of this legislature to create a coordinating 15 council to address these issues and to improve awareness and management 16 of asthma prevention and treatment for minorities in this state. 17 § 3. The commissioner of health shall establish a Minority Coordinat- 18 ing Council on Asthmatic Affairs. The commissioner shall appoint as many 19 members as he or she determines appropriate. Such members shall be 20 representative of those regions of the state with significant minority 21 populations and shall include health care professionals with knowledge 22 and experience in the prevention and treatment of asthma and in the 23 areas of public health care funding. The council shall be tasked with: 24 (a) assessing the asthma risk factors for the minority citizens of this 25 state, its counties and regions; (b) identifying the existing barriers 26 to quality asthma treatment and care among minorities; (c) developing EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD09031-01-9

A. 5131 2 1 action steps for addressing care issues; and (d) launching a state-wide 2 asthma awareness campaign to educate citizens about the disease, its 3 symptoms, and the ability to better manage asthma through prevention and 4 treatment. The council shall deliver an annual report addressing various 5 asthma program successes, new trends, data and issues surrounding minor- 6 ity populations suffering from asthma to the governor and the legisla- 7 ture beginning September 1, 2023, and annually thereafter. 8 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

Enacts the "Lydia Soto law"

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